


before those hands pulled me from the dirt

by LovelyLittleNothing



Series: AUs no one asked for [2]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Apocalypse, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse, i mean there has to b some angst its a zombie apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 00:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12899814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyLittleNothing/pseuds/LovelyLittleNothing
Summary: Of all the far-fetched things -of which there were many-that Ryan believed in, zombies didn’t even breach the top ten. Ghosts, sure. Aliens, maybe. Hell, even bigfoot had some evidence to support its existence. But zombies? Fuck, no. Ryan put his faith in a lot of dumb things but even he had to draw a line somewhere. So, of course, the universe had to go and prove him wrong.---Or the Zombie Apocalypse AU no one asked for in which Ryan and Shane have to survive Hell on Earth and maybe find each other through the chaos.





	before those hands pulled me from the dirt

Ryan moved across the scuffed linoleum tiles slowly, careful not to make too much unnecessary noise as he grasped his aluminum bat. Beside him, Steven and Brent did the same, peering cautiously around the store, over the bare shelves and past the shattered remains of the 7-11 windows. Occasionally, something would creak ominously in the distance and all three would immediately tense up, waiting for the tell-tale sound of groaning and the stench of decay to hit them, only relaxing after several minutes of silence. 

It was unlikely that they would find anything in the store, but they desperately needed to restock their supplies before they were completely out of anything to eat. As it was, the three only had about two tins of a weird mystery meat and two water bottles between them. Anything, even a candy bar, would be enough to justify their trip out of their shelter. It had only been two months since the infection first spread but already most shops had been cleaned out. Hopefully, they would be able to find something edible in the back storage rooms.

The three continued their slow trek to the back room, letting out a quiet sigh of relief as they reached the door without incident. Steven tried turning the knob only to groan in frustration as they realized it was locked.

“Great,” Steven muttered, “we came all the way here and there’s nothing even remotely useful. What do we do now?”

Ryan frowned, weighing their options. They could try to force the door open and risk attracting the attention of any possible infected near them. Or they could go home, hungry, frustrated and with nothing to show for their efforts. God, the apocalypse sucked ass.

“Brent give me your hoodie.” Ryan said, removing his empty backpack and placing it on the tiled floor beneath the doorknob. He straightened back up, grasping his baseball bat tightly and looking at Brent expectantly.

“W-what?” Brent sputtered confused, even as he began shrugging off the aforementioned hoodie, “Why do you need it?” Ryan took the hoodie, wrapping it around the metal knob a few times before pausing briefly.

“I’m gonna try to snap the doorknob off with the bat. But, if I do that to a metal knob with a metal bat it’ll definitely make enough noise for the entire cast of The Walking Dead to find us,” he turned back to the door, a look of concentration settling itself on his face, “you and Steven keep a look out for any of the infected, okay man?”

Steven and Brent both nodded, grasping their own bats that they had nicked from the first sporting goods store they had come across, as Ryan got to work on the doorknob.

For a few minutes, there was only the muffled thud of the bat against the hoodie and Ryan’s strained grunts as he put all his concentration into getting into the storage room. Steven and Brent waited, antsy as Ryan continues pounding away at the doorknob. The room was heavy with anticipation, as the three of them waited for something, anything to happen. Brent’s eyes darted continuously from one section of the store to another in rapid succession while Steven stood rigid, shoulders tensed and ready. The air felt heavy. Something had to give. 

Suddenly, Ryan gave one last hard swing at the door knob, cheering quietly when it fell to the floor. It hit the backpack underneath it with a quiet thud. Ryan turned around and gave his friends a bright smile before picking up Brent’s hoodie and his own backpack. He listened briefly for any movement on the other side before pushing the door open for his companions.

“After you, gentlemen,” Ryan said with a small laugh, smiling slightly as his friends rolled their eyes at him fondly. He followed after them, shutting the door quietly behind them. 

\---  
The trio headed back to their hideout, an abandoned house in a secluded part of town surrounded with rattling booby traps and boarded windows. They were in better spirits after their scavenging trip to 7-11 hadn’t ended in bloodshed and misery. They hadn’t found much, as it seemed like the store hadn’t gotten any new shipments before the world went to shit, but they hadn’t come back empty handed either. 

They had found rotten fruit and half moldy sandwiches but there was also some cases of water, frozen food that they were more than willing to eat soggy and lukewarm, and piles of junk food. It wasn’t the most filling of foods ever but it was food. Kinda. And, Ryan reasoned, even if it did kill them, it was either death by high cholesterol or the hordes of infected, so they filled their bags with as much as they could carry and headed back. They would return and clean house as soon as possible but right now they were just elated that they wouldn’t be starving to death.

“Say Brent,” Steven began mischievously, looking at Brent from the corner of his eye, “I saw you grab a couple bags of my favorite flavor of Doritos back there.”

Brent narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the other man, used to his antics but unsure of where this could be going, "Yeah. And?”

“Oh, nothing. I just really appreciated it. It was nice of you.”

Brent brightened up, giving his friend a kind smile, “Yeah, of course! It was no pr-”

“Yeah, I guess you could say I really value your friend- _chip_!” Steven interrupted the other man suddenly, already laughing at his own joke as Brent groaned exaggeratedly next to him. Steven just laughed harder at his friends reaction and Ryan, too, was wheezing at his two best friends. Even with the zombie apocalypse legitimately happening around them, they were still making the same old jokes. Ryan was so grateful he had the two of them to keep him from going insane.

“C’mon Brent,” Steven continued, “don’t be so grumpy. You really got to get that _chip_ off your shoulder!” 

Ryan laughed as Brent tried to fight off a smile. He manage to suppress it somewhat, but not before Steven had caught sight of it. 

“I knew I was the pun king. Look! I even made Brent laugh. He’s looking positively _chip_ -per!” 

“Oh god,” Ryan groaned even as all three of them laughed, “even you know that one was bad. No more chip jokes, please.”

“Fine, fine,” Steven put his hands up in surrender, before reaching into his pocket and extracting a candy bar, “I was just trying to bring a little Almond _Joy_ into our lives but-” he reached into his other pocket and found a box of Hot Tomales. He looked at it for a second before lighting up, ”but if you guys are gonna get this _heated_ about it I guess I’ll stop!”

“You look like a freaking vending machine right now, just pulling out candy from everywhere. Be careful or Ryan might accuse you of being a demon!” Brent told Steven snorting, as they turned onto a desolate street, still a little ways away from their hideout.

“Fuck you!” Ryan replied without any real heat, “Demons are real. You’re gonna regret saying that, _Brant_!” Brent just rolled his eyes and continued laughing.

Ryan knew they were being a little too loud, laughing a little too hard at things that weren’t all that funny but they needed this. He needed this. To be reminded that there was more to the hell on Earth than just smashing in the heads of the infected and staying up all night terrified. So they might be a little distracted but screw it, they deserved some distraction from the shit show that was currently their lives. One little second of reprieve wouldn’t kill them.

So, of course, that was when all hell broke loose.

Without their noticing, two of the infected had closed in on the from behind getting close enough to just barely miss grabbing at the fabric of Ryan’s shirt. He yelled in fear as he whirled around and swung as hard as he could at the thing. Blood splattered in the air and Ryan made sure not to let any of it get into his body in any way. The thing kept coming at him, however, shuffling pitifully and reaching its disgusting, blood encrusted hands towards him. 

Brent was fighting off the other infected as Steven came to Ryan’s aid, taking the thing down from the back with a swift swing to the exposed brain. Seconds, later the other one came falling down as well.

The three looked at each other in worry, catching their breaths as they tried to calm their racing hearts.

Ryan spoke up first, “Is everyone oka-?”

“Ryan move!” Brent yelled out as Steven pulled Ryan away from the abandoned home they had stopped in front of. Four more infected had emerged from the house and it sounded like a whole horde was on its way, attracted by the noise and blood, no doubt. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck we’re _so_ screwed,” Ryan muttered under her breath as his heart began to pound. He could hear blood rushing through his ears but it still wasn’t enough to drown out the groans that was coming from all around them. It seemed as if they had somehow managed to stumble across a horde that had found its way into the area. Of course.

Steven, Ryan and Brent locked eyes, giving each other sad smiles, before nodding, determined. They all knew how this would turn out, but they still wouldn’t go down without a fight. 

They stood with their backs to each other, raising their bats and getting ready to face down til the end. Ryan choked down a hysterical laugh that was bordering a sob. It sounded like they were in some cheesy, zombie flick from the 80s and, if they weren’t about to die, he would have found it funny. 

The first couple infected came close enough within striking distance and the three of them took them down with relative ease. If they hadn’t have been stuck in the middle of about twenty infected maybe they would have made it but already, as the second and then third came in contact with their bats, they felt their energy waning and resignation settling into them. 

A decayed hand grasped tightly onto his forearm, blackened nails trying to claw through his long sleeve shirt. He wrestled with it, struggling to keep the infected’s mouth from tearing into him, but it was far stronger than it had any right to be. He could still hear Brent and Steven fighting to either of his sides but he didn’t want to distract them and be the reason either one of them got infected. If he was going down he wasn’t taking them with him. They deserved better than that.

Ryan closed his eyes and hoped for once that ghosts weren’t real. If he had to come back and keep experiencing this hell hole in without being able to contact anyone he was really gonna be pissed. 

Just as Ryan was resigning himself to his fate the grip wrestling his went slack, and he noticed that the groaning coming from all around them had lessened significantly. When Ryan opened his eyes it was to an arrow protruding from the skull in front of him and a group of men fighting alongside them.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so the Roanoke episode and that absolutely dumb theory on zombies really got me thinking. Also, this fandom needs more weird, random multi chap aus so it looks like im gonna hog them all. There will be a lil zugene and steven/andrew/adam later on but i didnt wana clog the tags w bg relationships so if u like them u'll see them soon! Also, ik i should probably be working on my other fic but like... too many ideas at once lol. You can find me on tumblr on my main @ raphaelslewis or on my bfu sideblog @ boogariacs! Please leave a kudos or comment if you liked it and lmk if theres anything I should work on! Title from Hozier's "Like Real People Do"


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